The present invention relates to the detection of one or more of four Neisseriae and Neisseriae-like organisms, namely Neisseria lactamica (N. lactamica), Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (N. gonorrhoeae), and Branhamella catarrhalis (B. catarrhalis).
Simple and rapid assays for Neisseria from biologically derived material (e.g., serum, urine, surface fluids, exudates, or from culture media or culture broth) are important tools in diagnosis. It is known that certain substrates are specifically reactive with enzymes in Neisseriae to change from a colorless to a colored form, or from one color to another upon incubation with such enzymes. [Zimmer, B. L., et al, J. Clin. Microbiol., Vol. 10, p. 380 (1979)].
The aminopeptidase profiles of N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis have been studied and reported to be differential and capable of being reproducibly determined using chromogenic substrates as set forth in Perrine, S., and Watson, R. R., Abstracts of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, p. 39 (1975). This reference discloses that the presence of a reaction product of a substrate for gamma-glutamyl aminopeptidase which does not react with the other pathogenic Neisseriae is a positive indication that the specimen contains N. meningitidis. Similarly, it is known that beta-galactosidase activity is an indication of the presence of N. lactamica and that a substrate o-nitrophenyl-D-galactopyranoside be employed to detect such activity [LeMinor, L. and Ben Hamida, F., Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 102:267 (1962)]. Also, it is known that N. gonorrhoeae contains prolyliminopeptidase enzyme so that a substrate specific for that enzyme could be employed as a marker for it. [Watson, R. R. and Perrine, S., 1978 in G. F. Brooks, E. C. Gotschlick, K. K. Holmes, W. D. Sawyer, and F. E. Young (eds.) Immunobiology of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, ASM, Washington, D. C.]